Tamarkin Named Music Director and Conductor of Charlottesville and University Orchestra
The McIntire Department of Music recently announced the appointment of conductor Kate Tamarkin (left) as the next Music Director and Conductor of the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra. Tamarkin was selected from a pool of 100 applicants from three continents, ending a far-reaching search. She will join the U.Va. faculty this fall and will begin leading the orchestra in the upcoming 2006-2007 season. The orchestra’s season-opening concerts will be Oct. 7 and 8 at Old Cabell Hall. (May 24)

U.Va. Children’s Hospital and NBC 29 Raise Over $1.8M During TelethonThe numbers showed how much the people of Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley care about the U.Va. Children’s Hospital. At the conclusion of the June 2-4 telethon held at the U.Va. Health System, $1,820,583 had been raised, surpassing last year’s total of $1.7 million. These funds will go towards research and other needs of children and families cared for by U.Va. Children’s Hospital. Funds from past telethons have made possible the establishment of a U.Va. Children’s Hospital Heart Center, helped purchase the first Newborn Emergency Transport System ambulance and funded dozens of U.Va. Children’s Hospital research projects that benefit the field of pediatric medicine. (June 7)

FEST Rewards Junior Faculty for Pioneering Research
An internal grant program at the University of Virginia is giving select young faculty in the sciences, engineering and medicine a career boost. The Fund for Excellence in Science and Technology Distinguished Young Investigator Grant program is administered through the Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and aims to reward faculty in their first three years at U.Va. with funding for their research proposals. Recipients of 2006 FEST grants are Silvia Salinas Blemker (mechanical and aerospace engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science), Ben Calhoun (electrical and computer engineering, SEAS), Xiaowei Lu (cell biology, School of Medicine) and Jill Venton (chemistry, College of Arts & Sciences). (May 31)